I picked up some almonds in the store the other day and noticed the label: "No Salt. No Guilt." Excuse me? I had heard about "guilt−free eating" blogs but hadn't thought much about them, and then I came face to face with this trend of attempting to assuage (predominantly female) guilt about eating. Where does this come from? Why does my grocery store want to convince me not to feel guilty about eating? I already don't feel guilty about eating! By presupposing guilt, they help to create it. They have given me a free pass because I've bought the unsalted almonds, but if I bought the salted ones, we'd have a problem. Horrible feelings of shame as I bring the roasted, salted nut to my lips. Laugh, but I think the connection between guilt surrounding food and guilt surrounding sex is pretty clear. Female desire is seen as shameful, terrifying and dangerous for everyone involved. Our friends in the almond advertising business have picked up on this and they want to help! Help to curb your insatiable lust with plain almonds, just don't get fancy!
Let's apply the divide in femininity between the Virgin Mary and Eve to food. On the one hand, you have the Madonna: grapefruit, whole grains, plain almonds, quinoa, yogurt. All delicious things, but not particularly sexy. On the other hand, there is the whore: chocolate cake, burgers, fries, mac and cheese. Also delicious things, but not very good for you and consequently extremely appealing. By vilifying the fattier foods, we make them sexy. By saying we should resist them, we cannot. Our culture sexualizes food and every time we eat, we have to choose between being Mary or being Eve.
And of course, the American paradox: Our affliction is excess. We have too much and we don't know what to do with it. Most of the underprivileged youth in America are not suffering from starvation, but obesity. Not everyone can afford to eat like Mary because fruits and vegetables are expensive and processed TV dinners are not. Our twisted food culture puts added stress on low−income families and individuals who do not have access to inexpensive healthy foods.
So what is the point of all this? Food should be for health and for pleasure. If you're lucky enough to have access to healthy food, you shouldn't feel like you're making a sacrifice by eating an apple. If we stop putting food into the sexualized categories of "guilty" and "not guilty," we might have a chance at living healthier lives. I don't feel guilty when I eat, but the almond company, advertisers and food blogs with titles like "Guilt−free, Low−Calorie Foods" that are primarily directed at women are trying really hard to make me feel bad every time I put food in my mouth! Let's resist the female−desire−as−sin story, both in our bedrooms and in our kitchens. It's 2011. Let's get out of the garden of Eden and stop blaming Eve every time we satisfy our hunger.
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